Cheilanthes. 
53 
and Central American fern, Anemia tomentosa, has an odour like that of myrrh ; Molina 
thurifraga , a Cape species, smells of benzoin ; the bruised fronds of Angiopteris evccta are 
used in the Pacific Islands for imparting an agreeable scent to cocoa-nut oil ; while in North 
America a Dicksonia {D. punctilobula) is sometimes called the Sweet-scented Fern, on account 
of the pleasant fragrance of its fronds. It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that the odour 
in these cases is due to the presence of a large number of very small glands, more especially 
on the under surface of the frond : when the plant is gathered these are crushed, and the odour 
is then given out. The fern we are now describing, Cheilanthes fragrans, retains its pleasant 
scent when dried ; it resembles that of violets, or perhaps more strictly of violet-powder, there 
being a faint but perceptible starchy smell mingled with the perfume. 
Cheilanthes fragrans (which is also known as C. oaora ) is a small fern of tufted habit ; the 
stipes is short (from an inch to three inches in length), firm, and wiry, of a dark shining brown, 
and covered more or less densely with reddish-brown, linear, hair-like scales : these scales soon 
fall or are easily rubbed off, and the stipes has then a smooth appearance. The bipinnate 
fronds are usually about two inches long (sometimes, however, exceeding three inches), and 
about an inch broad in the lower portion, tapering gradually to the apex ; the pinnae are 
opposite, the lower broadly ovate and distant, the upper ones narrower and closer together ; 
the upper surface is of darkish green, the lower is paler ; the sori on the fertile fronds are 
singly or more numerously on the margins of the pinnae, the indusium being at first pale or 
whitish, and becoming brown, the margin being toothed or crenate. The species is, however, 
very variable, not only in size, but also in the division of the fronds and their hairiness. The 
above description will apply to the usual European form of the plant. Milde distinguishes six 
forms, three of which are found in Europe. The most frequent of these is that already described, 
in which the indusium is continuous and ciliate. A second form has an interrupted indusium, 
which, as in the typical state of the fern, is “ abruptly attenuate ; ” this occurs on Mount 
Vesuvius and in Sardinia. A third form has also an interrupted indusium, but this is herbaceous, 
not attenuated ; it is a native of Spain. These two forms show by their characters that the 
distinctions between true C. fragrans and the plant which has been described as distinct under 
the name C. maderensis , are insufficient for specific purposes. 
As we have already said, C. fragrans is one of the most characteristic ferns of the 
Mediterranean region, extending to the islands, and seldom found very far from the coast. 
It occurs in Central France, Dalmatia, and Piedmont, extending as far north as Switzerland ; 
in the Eastern Pyrenees and in the south of Spain, on the rock of Gibraltar and in Portugal ; 
and in many parts of Turkey and Greece. Its extra-European- distribution is not very 
extended : it is found in Algeria and Morocco, and is abundant in the Canaries and Madeira, 
from which last-named island it was introduced to cultivation in England by Francis Masson 
in 1 778. The Madeiran plant has been described as a distinct species- by some authors, under 
the name of C. maderensis ; but the characters by which it was proposed to distinguish it are 
neither important nor permanent. In Asia it occurs in the North-western Himalayas, at an 
elevation of 5,000 feet, as also in Afghanistan, Beloochistan, and Syria; at Jerusalem, and in 
Lycia and Cilicia. If the authors of the “ Synopsis Filicum ” are correct in identifying with 
this species C. andina, Hook., a native of the Peruvian Andes, the range of C. fragrans 
must be considerably extended, as it is not usually regarded as a plant of the New World. 
C. fragrans is an easy plant to grow, and does well either in a cool fern-house or in a 
Wardian case. Like the other species of the genus, it should be potted in fibrous peat with 
sand mixed with small pieces of sandstone, care being taken to elevate the crown of the root 
11 
